Stadium and the City

Stadium and the City
Author: Bale John Bale
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2019-06-01
Genre: Sports facilities
ISBN: 1474464114

This well-illustrated book is the first to explore the stadium as the principal container of the modern urban crowd and a place where thousands of people gather to take part in what often appears to be modern 'religious' rituals. Is the stadium a prison, a garden or a theatre? Do new stadiums contribute economically to the places in which they are built? Drawing on examples from Europe, North America and China, this book ranges from historical studies of stadium growth to current reviews of stadium development, exposing the stadium as a major element of the modern urban scene.

City of Dreams

City of Dreams
Author: Jerald Podair
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2019-07-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691192790

A vivid history of the controversial building of Dodger Stadium and how it helped transform Los Angeles When Walter O’Malley moved his Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 with plans to construct a new ballpark, he ignited a bitter half-decade dispute over the future of a rapidly changing city. For the first time, City of Dreams tells the full story of the controversial building of Dodger Stadium and how it helped create modern Los Angeles. In a vivid narrative, Jerald Podair tells how the city was convulsed over whether, where, and how to build the stadium. Eventually, it was built on publicly owned land from which the city had uprooted a Mexican American community, raising questions about the relationship between private profit and “public purpose.” Indeed, the battle over Dodger Stadium crystallized issues with profound implications for all American cities. Filled with colorful stories, City of Dreams will fascinate anyone who is interested in the history of the Dodgers, baseball, Los Angeles, and the modern American city.

Soldier Field

Soldier Field
Author: Liam T. A. Ford
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2009-10-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0226257096

Sports fans nationwide know Soldier Field as the home of the Chicago Bears. For decades its signature columns provided an iconic backdrop for gridiron matches. But few realize that the stadium has been much more than that. Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City explores how this amphitheater evolved from a public war memorial into a majestic arena that helped define Chicago. Chicago Tribune staff writer Liam Ford led the reporting on the stadium’s controversial 2003 renovation—and simultaneously found himself unearthing a dramatic history. As he tells it, the tale of Soldier Field truly is the story of Chicago, filled with political intrigue and civic pride. Designed by Holabird and Roche, Soldier Field arose through a serendipitous combination of local tax dollars, City Beautiful boosterism, and the machinations of Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson. The result was a stadium that stood at the center of Chicago’s political, cultural, and sporting life for nearly sixty years before the arrival of Walter Payton and William “The Refrigerator” Perry. Ford describes it all in the voice of a seasoned reporter: the high school football games, track and field contests, rodeos, and even NASCAR races. Photographs, including many from the Chicago Park District’s own collections, capture these remarkable scenes: the swelling crowds at ethnic festivals, Catholic masses, and political rallies. Few remember that Soldier Field hosted Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr., Judy Garland and Johnny Cash—as well as Grateful Dead’s final show. Soldier Field captures the dramatic history of Chicago’s stadium on the lake and will captivate sports fans and historians alike.

Field of Schemes

Field of Schemes
Author: Neil deMause
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2015-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0803285485

Between the Stadium and the City

Between the Stadium and the City
Author: Paul Bryant
Publisher:
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:

Despite possessing the ability to complement the urban condition, many stadiums are sited at the outskirts of major metropolitan areas, surrounded by acres of surface parking, completely removed and isolated from the urban environment. Recently, city leaders and designers have attempted to utilize stadiums as a catalyst for gentrification in blighted urban neighborhoods. However, the stadium remains empty and unused for a majority of the year, rendering itself no less isolated from the vibrancy of the urban environment than its suburban relatives. However, by employing the ideas of urban theorists who have offered advice as to how to create dynamic urban spaces, stadiums can take full advantage of their urban potential and be infused into the urban environment, becoming participatory within the dynamic urban condition as living components of the city.

The Stadium

The Stadium
Author: Frank Andre Guridy
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2024-08-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1541601475

The "deep and impactful" story of the American stadium (Howard Bryant, author of Full Dissidence)—from the first wooden ballparks to today’s glass and steel mega-arenas—revealing how it has made, and remade, American life. Stadiums are monuments to recreation, sports, and pleasure. Yet from the earliest ballparks to the present, stadiums have also functioned as public squares. Politicians have used them to cultivate loyalty to the status quo, while activists and athletes have used them for anti-fascist rallies, Black Power demonstrations, feminist protests, and much more. In this book, historian Frank Guridy recounts the contested history of play, protest, and politics in American stadiums. From the beginning, stadiums were political, as elites turned games into celebrations of war, banned women from the press box, and enforced racial segregation. By the 1920s, they also became important sites of protest as activists increasingly occupied the stadium floor to challenge racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism, and more. Following the rise of the corporatized stadium in the 1990s, this complex history was largely forgotten. But today’s athlete-activists, like Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, belong to a powerful tradition in which the stadium is as much an arena of protest as a palace of pleasure. Moving between the field, the press box, and the locker room, this book recovers the hidden history of the stadium and its important role in the struggle for justice in America.

Ballpark

Ballpark
Author: Paul Goldberger
Publisher: Knopf
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2019-05-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0307701549

An exhilarating, splendidly illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic. From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a "saloon in the open air"), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks, Goldberger reveals the manifestations of a changing society: the earliest ballparks evoked the Victorian age in their accommodations--bleachers for the riffraff, grandstands for the middle-class; the "concrete donuts" of the 1950s and '60s made plain television's grip on the public's attention; and more recent ballparks, like Baltimore's Camden Yards, signal a new way forward for stadium design and for baseball's role in urban development. Throughout, Goldberger shows us the way in which baseball's history is concurrent with our cultural history: the rise of urban parks and public transportation; the development of new building materials and engineering and design skills. And how the site details and the requirements of the game--the diamond, the outfields, the walls, the grandstands--shaped our most beloved ballparks. A fascinating, exuberant ode to the Edens at the heart of our cities--where dreams are as limitless as the outfields.

Remembering Veterans Memorial Stadium and the City Baseball Federation

Remembering Veterans Memorial Stadium and the City Baseball Federation
Author: Dick Pope
Publisher:
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2021-05-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9780578818306

This book was written for an historical account of a baseball league in Saginaw, MI that not many people remember. The league was based out of the old Veterans Memorial Stadium which was located at 20th street and Holland. The league was very popular in Saginaw. It was made up of teams sponsored by local businesses. The players were college players and people loved baseball. Some of the players went on to play baseball in the minor leagues and a few went on to play in the major leagues. Bob Buhl, Jerry Lynch, Ed Albosta, Danny Schell, Al Luplow, Jim Northrup and Vern Ruhle all played in the Major Leagues. One person, Terry Collins, went on to manage the N.Y. Mets from 2011 to 2017. The Saginaw News did a wonderful job of covering the league for the fans of Saginaw baseball. They never had official counts but on some nights it was reported that 3,000 to 3,500 watched the games. It was a wonderful place to watch baseball on a warm summer night. Many people have fond memories of Veterans Memorial Stadium.